It's been 5 years already since I started writing. Wow. I can't believe it. I have started writing my first trilogy, Siren Suicides, on May 15th 2012. Since then I've written and self-published the before-mentioned trilogy (and republished it later as one book, Siren Suicides: Second Edition), stand-alone novels Rosehead, Irkadura and The Badlings, and two books of tweets, Blue Sparrow and Blue Sparrow 2. I'm currently in the process of finishing my new novel TUBE (the one I started writing during the Amtrak residency) and plotting my first thriller (so excited!!!) The Dacha Murders, with 15 more novels outlined and waiting their turn (among them Dogwood, the sequel to Rosehead). Oh, and I have a bunch of short stories that may comprise a whole book by the end of 2017 (or beginning of 2018).

After writing full-time for five years and making intermittent sales (they would happen randomly, without my understanding of why at that particular moment, and why that particular book), I finally got fed up with being poor and have told you (or rather, screamed at you from various Internet roofs) that I'll be treating my book writing as a business from now on. Starting tomorrow, to be exact. Because tomorrow, on May 15th, it will be exactly five years since I began writing the first draft of my first trilogy, Siren Suicides. Many of you have asked what I meant by this, some have misunderstood that I'll be betraying my past mantras (like concentrating on the craft and letting your readers sell for you), and some have cheered me on with the rightful, "FINALLY." Yeah, finally.

So, why now?

25 things I learned from writing full-time for 5 years

10 tips on turning your book writing into a business